Order Prevails
by Sati James
Summary: This is my first fic. Babylon5 bsg2003. The Cylons have destroyed the Galactica and the Earth Alliance on the instructions of the Vorlons but the Shadows have helped some Humans escape. Even with Vorlon help can the Cylons survive the Humans revenge
1. Chapter One The Prologue

I don't own Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5 yada yada yada

Sol System was silent. Throughout the system there was simply no movement, shattering this silence for a moment a blue funnel appeared just inside the asteroid belt. Had anybody been there they would have seen the green Vorlon Heavy Destroyer, the main body tapering into the four arms, which, like some ancient arachnid, seemed to reach out to find it's prey, but there was no one there. Silently the destroyer glided towards Earth. To the casual observer it looked as if the asteroid bet had extended all the way to Earth Orbit, until you looked closer.

Then the nature of this new belt became apparent; starfuries, shuttles, breaching pods, _Hyperion_ cruisers, _Omega_ destroyers, _Warlock_ destroyers and even the rare _Explorer_ ships, the wreckage of the once proud ships littered the system. Idly aboard the destroyer the Kosh read the names from the shattered hulks, _Agamemnon, Lexington, Cortez, Heraclese._

Kosh proceeded through the system to Earth, occasionally catching a glimpse of a wrecked _Simtar _but cylon baseships were absent from the graveyard, no baseships were present in the legacy of the Humans final Stand. Above Earth Kosh found the most important legacy. The ship had once been proud, its four engines glowing with power pushing it onward in search of the 13th colony. The triangle forward section could no loner be recognised, the twin landing bays that gave her the graceful bird like appearance had been sheered off, her guns fired until they had nothing left to shoot and were among the last to fall silent. Her name was still visible; _GALACTICA_ still blazed defiantly from the severed landing bay.

An orange funnel appeared as the destroyer jumped back to hyperspace, onboard Kosh was pleased. The manipulation and guidance of the Cylons had worked. Using their angel like appearance the Vorlons had helped and guided the Cylons, the very symbol of order into destroying their ancient enemy's strongest champions. The Humans the personification of Chaos were gone the Vorlons were pleased. Order had prevailed now with their Cylon children they could show the ancient enemy that order, not chaos was the way to guide the younger races.

However, Sol System was not as quiet as Kosh had believed had he looked just a little further he would have seen a sight to fill him with dread. A fleet was leaving Sol System, not a military fleet but a fleet carrying the one thing the Vorlons hated, chaos. 'What do you want' is the most difficult question to answer, but the Humans now new. The need for revenge burned through Sol System brighter than the sun, throughout the fleet there was one constant thought. The days of the Vorlons and the Cylons were numbered, and they were small numbers. Quietly _Earth Force One_ and _Colonial One _lead their charges towards the stars.

Space shimmered and a shadow battlecrab appeared. The ship smiled, it had successfully shielded the Human fleet from the Vorlons. The Vorlons believed that the game was over, they were wrong. Order had prevailed for now but the shadows were patient. With the escape of the Humans the shadows chessboard was set, and the pieces were moving.


	2. Chapter Two It Begins

It had been 20 years since the destruction of Earth and the flight of the Humans. 18 years ago a habitable planet had been found and with no sign of pursuit the fleet had stopped. The new planet was named New Earth and the shipyards of the new earth Empire were complete. Research had been undertaken in the last 18 years in combining the best of the Earth Alliance and 12 Colonies ships. As the Earth Empire was still new it was decided to concentrate on three of the most tried and tested designs. The Battlestar class carriers and the Omega class destroyers had both been upgraded but would only be used to defend New Earth.

The most powerful of the three would be the Warlock Class Battleship. Originally an Earth Alliance design, 3 times longer than a Battlestar and 6 times higher, the warlock had had Galactica style suppression batteries added along the hull to aid in point defence, Galactica style heavy armour to enable it to withstand multiple nuclear strikes and Galactica artificial gravity plating. (google image search "Warlock Class Destroyer"). As well as most of the weapons facing forward, its smallest profile and there fore the most difficult to hit, the Warlock carried a few fighters and withering weaponry: 4 twin mounted laser cannons (3 forward and 1 aft firing) 2 Missile Batteries (16 nukes each mounted on both sides, forward firing) 8 proton cannons (at least one can fire in any given direction) and 40 Vipers lancing from 20 tubes on the port side and 20 tubes on the starboard. Unlike the Battlstars these tubes were are part of the main body and covered by retractable armour plate, as is the landing bay between the 4 main engines. With Galacica style jump and Sub light engines Warlock class battleships were fast, manuverable, capable of taking on 4 base stars, Mainly due to the fact that Laser beams could cut them in half and a direct hit from a proton cannon would sever an arm, and they could give a Vorlon Cruiser a run for its money. (google image search Vorlon Cruiser).

It had now been 30 years since the colonisation of New Earth and 10 years since the Shipyards had been brought on line. New Earth was now defended by the Home Fleet. The Home Fleet was made up of 3 Divisions, each one consisting of 5 Battlstar class carries and 10 Omega class destroyers, with there new upgrades the Home Fleet could withstand the entire fleet the Cylons used to wipe out the 12 colonies and put a significant dent in a Vorlon fleet

In New Earth Orbit, fresh from the shipyards was the pride and joy of the Earth Empire, three Warlock class battleships. The flagship of the Earth Empire was the _Vengeance_ and she was flanked by the _Defiance_ and the _Liberator_. With the final two Warlocks _Freedom _and _Independence_ approaching completion _Vengeance, Defiance_ and _Liberator_ were sent to Earth. They returned 2 weeks later with the news that nothing had changed since there flight 30 years ago. With _Freedom _and _Independence_ completed the 5 Warlocks were grouped into the First Imperial Fleet and jumped to the edge of the 12 colonies…..

…..and right into the middle of a Cylon task force.


	3. Chapter Three The First Imperial Fleet

Fleet captain Jeremy Sumpter relaxed in his command chair aboard the _Vengeance_. It had been three weeks since the First Fleet had left the Terran System and they were now approaching the 12 colonies, now he was deciding what to do next. With only 5 ships, powerful as they may be, there was a certain risk to taking the entire fleet in at once.

"lieutenant Colver, tell the other captains I want to speak to them at once and send the calls to my office." "Yes captain" Captain Sumpter watched as he left the bridge, Sarah Colver was one of the youngest of his crew members. 20, tall with blond hair and a reasonable body she had had half the deck crew after her as soon as she stepped off the shuttle. Quite how someone could become so adept at encryption friendly and deciphering enemy codes that young was beyond him, but then most said the same when he became fleet captain at 28. the comms chirped and the screen split into 4 to reveal his fellow captains.

Captain Sophie Thomas of the _Defiance_ was 25, of average height but with an athletic body, (she'd actually managed to include a gym on the _Defiance_), shoulder length dark brown hair and small rectangular glasses.

Captain Rosie Adams of the _Liberator _was also 25 and had attended the academy with Sophie. She was tall and stornger than most of her command staff but the most striking thing about her was her flaming ginger hair, (call it red and they'd never find your body.)

Captain Richard Hurst of the _Independence_ was 29, tall but well built and had grown his chocolate brown hair to shoulder length. (the last person to call him a girl was still in intensive care.)

Completing the tableau was Captain Dexter Smith of the _Freedom _at 54 he was the oldest of the 5 but that didn't bother him. Looking like an older version of Alfred Bester he did not have the initiative or tactical ability of the others but his ship _Agrippa_ was one of the 3 to survive the Battle for Earth.

"Well Jeremy, why have you called us all here" he cringed at the icy voice from captain Thomas, from the looks of things he had interrupted her in the gym, never a good thing. "I wanted to discuss the next jump…" "why, the calculations are already completed" that was from captain Hurst, as the navigators of the _Independence _had just finished the calculations he had taken it as a personal insult. "I meant how we are going to approach it" "simple we all go through and blast everything in the area to space dust in revenge". Captain Smith's hated of the cyons was legendary although as one of the only three military captains to survive the Battle for Earth that was understandable. "We cant just go in there with all guns blazing. Our Warlocks are more than a mach for any of the old Cylon Baseships but if they upgraded them with wreckage from the graveyard then we could have a much tougher fight." "If that's true we just have to tell captain aAdams that the Cylons said her hair was red" "I heard that Sophie" "I'm dead" "look I am the Fleet Captain" "great he's pulling rank" "the _Vengeance_ and the _Freedom_ will jump in, do a quick scan, take out any opposition and jump out again. If we need assistance Dexter or I will call you in or jump back to your position." "Alright Jeremy. Sophie, Rosie and I will work out a good guard formation while you check out the old colonies" "we are almost to the jump point, I suggest we get ready for the Jump". A red light travelled the length of the _Vengeance_ and the _Freedom_ and they were gone.

The six Cylon Baseships on patrol no. 23464677 were in a U formation and had not discovered anything unusual. If the Cylons were capable of feeling boredom they would have since the last ship they got to destroy was a Minbari Sharlin on patrol 29673. Suddenly 2 heavily modified Warlock class destroyers appeared right in the middle of the formation. Human and Cylon had only one thought. FRACK


	4. Chapter Four Baptism By Fire

Since no one has reviewed and told me which style they prefer I shall write the next chapters in a combination.

The model 7 in charge of the Cylon patrol checked the scanners 4 times then ordered the basestars to open fire. "By your command" "Report Centurion" "we are to close to use the missile batteries without causing significant damage to our own basesars" "then use the rail guns and the fighters" "the rail guns are designed as anti figh……"

" I SAID OPEN FIRE!" "By your command"

Aboard the _Vengeance_ Captain Sumpter recovered quickly. "Sarah contact _Freedom _tell them attack pattern Omicron (Oh-Mi-Cron). Don't launch fighters at this range they'll be destroyed, AFW's (Anti Fighter Weapons) full enemy suppression barrage, CSK's (Capital Ship Killers) take down the closet three of those Baseships!"

One of the great benefits of the combined tech was increased anti missile/fighter weapons, increased armour and increased speed with devastating close in armaments, though the stand off capability was reduced the greater speed and protection made this on minimal importance. The Cylons learnt this within the first few seconds.

The _Scimitars _flew out of there Baseships intent on blasting these human warships that had been foolish enough to return… and were promptly turned into a firework display by the AFW suppression batteries. The model 7 watched in horror as his fighters disappeared and the rail guns shots bounced off the human ships armour but not for long as his base ship was soon to die.

The base ships were not designed for close quarters combat and it showed as the CSK's on the _Vengeance_ and the _Freedom_ opened fire. The baseships in front of them immediately died as the laser cannons lanced out, cutting through the base ship from the top severing the arms it looked as though they might slice them into three, until the beams hit the central section that held the two parts together. The reactor breached and the base ship blew apart closely followed by its sister ship.

The proton batteries were also baking short work of the Baseships to port and starboard three were reduced to twisted wrecks with gaping holes. The final baseship was trying to escape but the aft proton cannons of the Freedom managed to score a direct hit on one of the fighter bays. The end of the arm exploded and flame shot out of gashes in the hull then there was another explosion further up the arm and another and another increasing in speed the fuel dumps along the arm went up one after the other _Boom…Boom…Boom_ as gravity aboard the Baseship finally gave out the fire swept down the corridors like water someone has just pored down a gutter scorching and burning the reddish flesh of the basestar until it reached the bottom of the central core where the fuel for the main engines was stored, the Basestar died in a orange fireball that soon died because of the lack of oxygen, and there was nothing larger than a hand span left of the once mighty ship.

Take that you metal basterds. "Lieutenant Colver, damage report please" "Yes captain the Cylons rail guns managed to take out 5 of our suppression batteries, the backups will cover that area with no impact on combat performance, and the port hull has taken minor damage from the explosions of the Basestars. Sir Captain Smith is hailing" "put him through" "Jeremy how's _Vengeance_?" " not to bad, only minor damage, _Freedom_?" "Same here. Thank God for model sevens." "How do you know which model it was?" "Simple, any commander with half a brain would have tried to get far enough away to use missiles but whoever was commanding that patrol didn't. only one Cylon model has that sought of incompetence and that's the model sevens" "Why are they so bad?" "Imagine putting a mid level bureaucrat in charge on an Omega" "Well at least we know the jamming works" "How so Jeremy" "well that last Basestar tried to escape and warn the others. If they had been able to transfer to new bodies then there would be no need" "Well it looks like the tech boys got it right for once, lets go and check out Aires. Even if the Cylons couldn't transfer it won't be long before they miss that patrol."

Cylon Occupied Caprica…..

"Have we received any news on that missing patrol" the model 6 in charge of Caprica asked the model 1 "Boomer". "A Centurion is brining the report from the fighter sent to investigate now." "By your command" "report Centurion" "The patrol has been destroyed" "Six Basestars destroyed!" Six was quickly going into one of rages so One intervened "are the weapons used to destroy the patrol known to us?" "Yes. The _Scimitars_ were destroyed by colonial suppression batteries while the basestars were destroyed by laser beams and proton cannons belonging to the Earth Alliance.

The scream echoed around Caprica. It was the scream of a child whose parents have just come home… and decided it's time they were grounded.


	5. Chapter Five The Quorum Of Twelve

2 home guard fleets and 2 high guard fleets that were double the size of the home guard fleets and as an added bonus the two high guard fleets contained the two Vorlon Planet killers.

Cylon Occupied Caprica

Deep within Caprica City was the Quorum building. When this world was the capital of the 12 colonies the central chamber had held the representatives from the 12 worlds. Now under Cylon occupation a new Quorum had been established, there had been 12 worlds, now there were 12 models. Inside the new Quorum of 12 was debating "we have to do something" 7 wailed "the shipyards at Aries the centurion production plants on Gemenon OUR cloning plants on Virgo, the only world they haven't caused chaos on is Caprica" model 9 tried not to say I told you so "Yes but what? The two ships that are causing this problem are more powerful than anything we have simply because they combine the best of the 13 colonies. I warned you about not taking the technology from the graveyard to improve ourselves but you all stood there smug and complacent believing that anything the humans could do we could improve upon." His best obviously wasn't good enough. "what is your point 9" "my point 6 is that we still have time to learn from our mistakes." "how so" "As much trouble as they have been causing they are still only two human ships. God has one of his angels cruiser here above Caprica, God foresaw this and sent us the materials we need to fight." "explain yourself" "We ask the Angels to destroy the _Vengeance _and the _Freedom _while we send three basestars to sol system to gather technology and correct our mistake." "This plan has been wee thought out, well done nine. Who will support this plan?" throughout the Quorum building something amazing happened. For the first time in the history of both the Human and Cylon Quorums the vote was unanimous the wording the same "By your command"

Above Caprica four things moved. Three basestars jumped out on there way to Sol and a Vorlon Cruiser headed outto punish these rebellious children. Aboard the cruiser Kosh was worried, the circle was distorted, the Mimbari, the Vree, the Centuri, the Narns, the Abbi, the Drazi, the Bakiri and many many others had been taught true order by their Cylon children but now the youngest and most chaotic of them all had returned. The others must be told the humans are one race we Vorlons must destroy ourselves. Once the _Vengeance_ and _Freedom_ have been destroyed I must return to Vorlon to inform the others and marshal the four fleets before it is to late.

What Kosh did not know but was about to learn was that it was already to late.


	6. Chapter Six Shadows Of the Graveyard

Sol System

Three Cylon basestars jumped into the system in Neptune Orbit. Slowly they began to glide into the system closing in and scavenging from the most intact wrecks. Aboard the basestars the model 9 gloated "foolish humans. They actually believed that they could defy US? This wreckage will soon be added to or own and then the humans new worlds will fall. No mater how ingenious our parents are order will prevail." Silently on Ganymede a ship that could only be described as a spider from hell was awakening. It had slept there for over 1,000 years quietly going unnoticed. Now the Cylons were plundering the graveyard, this could not be allowed to happen, they would become to powerful and the game would become far more difficult. The Vorlons had allowed the Cylons to subjugate almost all of the other races. His masters had no more cards to play it was all or nothing. If the Vorlons were defeated then his masters could leave for the rim but if his masters last child fell then the Vorlons would have imposed order thought the galaxy and all the infant races would stagnate, never leaving the cradle of their birth until their suns went supernova and there race was gone. The Shadow battlecrab glided silently towards the Cylon base stars, it was not noticed until just before it fired, the rail guns of the basestars flared into life pouring fire into the battlecrab as the basestars desperaty tried to get far enough away to use their missile batteries. As the slugs hit the black, shifting armour they stopped and were simply pulled inside, the battlecrab continued to close the distance then a scream unlike anything they had ever heard disrupted the centurions and ripped apart the minds of the human models. A bright purple beam shot out twice from the battlecrab and was followed by twin explosions. The battlcrab then took its time slicing the lead basestar apart a bit at a time knowing this would be the most fun it would have until it returned to Za'ha'dum to tell its masters that the time had come. The shadows would forsake there name, and come out of he shadows in one last attempt to save there dear children from the stagnation the Vorlons and Cylons enforced. 2 hours later the graveyard of sol had three new ships and the battlecrab made its way through that angry red of hyperspace. Its destination the rim, and Za'ha'dum.


	7. Chapter Seven The Wrath Of God

"Captain Hurst" "Yes Lieutenant" "I am receiving a transmission from the _Vengeance _sir." "Oh, good just when life was getting boring. Well what does Jeremy have to say for himself" "its one word sir, sigma" "Transmit that code to _Defiance_ and _Liberator_ AT ONCE tell them to form up on us and as soon as they are ready jump" "Yes Captain Hurst"

_Vengeance_ and _Freedom _were running as fast as their sublight engines could push them, flying strait out of the system of the 12 colonies with a Vorlon cruiser steadily closing the gap. The Captain of the cruiser was impatient. These humans had advanced at a rate far beyond the rate the Vorlons had deemed appropriate. They were slaughtering their Cylon children but at least they still feared the Vorlons as shown by their flight. The only good thing about the new jump tech that the Lords of Chaos (aka: Shadows) had allowed them to develop was that it required calculations that meant the ship had to be in a certain area while the jump was calculated and then slow to an almost complete stop. This stopped the abominations known as the _Vengeance_ and _Freedom _soon his cruiser would overtake them, it would not be long now…….

Aboard the _Freedom _Captain Smith was wondering if Fleet Captain Sumpter had lost his final marble. "you want us to turn around and take a hit from that cruiser to our stern" "Yep" "mind if I ask what you will be doing while I'm being shot at" "The cyber weapon of the Cylons no longer works on our ships because of the no networking design but now we have learnt how to it we can use it" "you seriously expect it to work on a Vorlon cruiser!" "While the Cylons are immune the Vorlons have never encountered it before so it should work" "It wont take them long to adapt" "It will be enough" "I'm going to regret this……" "Dex" "…….Very well. Helm, hard about, NOW"

"The _Freedom_ is coming about sir, she's displaying her port profile to the cruiser, it's taking the bait! The cruiser has changed course to intercept the _Freedom_" "Excellent, helm bring us into range, weapons as soon as possible deploy the cyber weapon in search, NOT disable mode, Ops when they take the hit tell _Freedom_ to bring their bow to bear on the cruiser, once the Vorlons have adapted send the code"

The Vorlon cruiser fired its main gin, the green electricity formed on the end of its four arms, joined in a ball in the centre of the four and then lashed out blowing a gaping hole on the _Freedom _that took out twelve decks, thankfully the stern had been evacuated so there were no deaths. _Vengeance_ was sitting close to the cruiser which had finally caught on to what they were doing and jammed the cyber weapon. Just as _Freedom's _bow came to bear on the cruiser Vengeance sent one word out on all frequencies… Fire. Three old style jump point opened and from the centre of the blue vortexes spewed the _Defiance_, _Liberator_ and _Independence._ All five battleships had their bows pointed at the cruiser and all five fired their main gunssix heavy particle beams and twelve laser cannons lanced out and converged on the cruiser, while Vorlon armour caused much of the energy to dissipate it could not remove the actual physical impact of the weapons and the cruiser was speared by the beams that went strait through and came out the other side. Mortally wounded the cruiser imploded and fifteen strange blue energy waves ran along the length of its shattered hulk. Though know one knew this signalled the passing of the fifteen Vorlons that had crewed the vessel, when there deaths were felt on the home world and their memorise examined all of Vorlon would utter one thought, how?.

With _Freedom_ crippled the First Imperial Fleet would have to travel home the old fashioned way, the Jump points opened, with _Defiance_ and _Liberator_ towing _Freedom_ they began the journey home leaving behind a galaxy that had just been shaken to it's very core.


	8. Chapter Eight The Quorum of Thirteen

Quorum of 13 New Earth

The new Quorum building was a combination of styles, from the outside it looked like the old British houses of Parliament but with the sides of the clock tower inscribed with the names of all those killed in the two holocausts. Inside it had a distinctly colonial feel with the Quorum chamber simply a grander version of the one on Cloud Nine. The chief of the research staff was now about to brief the Quorum on the data collected from the Vorlon Cruiser.

President Laura Roslin, saved from the cancer by the more advanced medical technology of Earth had just briefed the Quorum on the destruction of the Vorlon cruiser. Laura was one of the few people holding high positions to survive the massacre at Earth. With the death of President Santiago of Earth she had been given the presidency of the Earth Alliance as well until the emergency was over. It would have cone to Vice-President Clarke if he hadn't been executed with Vice-President Baltar for treason shortly before the arrival of the Cylon fleet. With the new Quorum established Laura Roslin and Susanna Luchenko had one landslide victories in every election since. Se was now despairing and for a fleeting moment missing Thomas Zarak, he had died in the evacuation and he might have been a terrorist and a pain in the ass but he would have at least been able to calm the Quorum more quickly. After the calls for Peace with the Cylons, the extermination of the Cylons and the complete obliteration of the Vorlon Homeworld had been silenced the Minister of Science stepped up to brief the Quorum on the date extracted from the Vorlons computer core with the Cyber weapon deployed be the Vengeance.

"Honoured Quorum members. The data gathered from the Vorlons is invaluable, though much of the technology including the armour and weapons technology is beyond us we have been able to patch together a workable version of the Vorlons main weapon. This new "main gun" has a major flaw in that it drains all power except life support and artificial gravity leaving the ship disabled for 60 seconds. although the rest of the technology is unknown at this time it will eventually push are tech ahead by thousands of years. We should have enough insite to produce ships equal to the Vorlons within 5 years if we devote every facility's at are disposal to the reverse engineering of this technology. Will the Quorum support this?"

Stupid question thought Laura. Since when did the Quorum pass up an opportunity to become a race equal to the first ones in under 5 years? as she predicted the vote was unanimous in favour. Next the cabinet minister for Naval Intelligence stepped up to the podium

"As valuable as this knowledge is it pales to what else we have learned...


	9. Chapter Nine Plans Of The Quorum

"…….the data from the Vorlons holds many treasures that we can use immediately. The main problem we face now is the lack of ships, to send the Home Fleet to war would be to leave the Earth Empire open to attack yet the First Imperial Fleet contains only five ships, therefore, a full scale war with the Cylons and Vorlons necessitates more ships. With the Vorlon database we can now address that necessity. The ships of the graveyard are damaged beyond repair but the database give us another option, another way to strike back, it gives us the location of the Katana Fleet."

The reaction was mixed, eleven members of the Quorum were shocked into stunned silence, the other two, the representatives for Virgon and Gemmanon were to young to remember and had no idea why the others were so shocked, quickly the representative for Virgon stood up.

"Minister, I believe that some of us are at a loss as to the importance of this information. Could you please explain why it is relevant?"

"Certainly. After the execution of Baltar and Clarke a decision was taken to send out a fleet to delay the Cylons long enough that all of Earths civilian and military resources could be evacuated"

"obviously it didn't work"

"No. All twenty of Earth Force's Warlock class destroyers were recalled and grouped into a strike force known as the Katana Fleet but before they could jump out and engage the Cylons a cylon saboteur shut down life support and sent them into hyperspace on a completely random heading straight off the beacon. The Katana Fleet disappeared, never to return. The significance is that providing we purge their computers and spend about a month in space dock upgrading them we have twenty new Warlock class destroyers armed an ready for war."

The cheer was so loud that it startled drivers outside the Quorum building enough cause a pile up.

5 minuets later

"Don't tell me there's more minister?"

"Indeed there is honoured member. Powerful though we now are, even more so with the missile banks of our 25 Warlocks being replaced with main guns approaching Vorlon weaponry we cannot fight the Vorlons and the Cylons simultaneously."

"So we'll deal with the Cylons first"

"The independent will of the enemy dictates that the Cylons and Vorlons will unite and Crush us, the Cylons simply because they can't bear a single human surviving and the Vorlons because if they allow the Cylons to think that "God" can be defeated then they could rebel against them as they did to us."

"So how do we survive"

In the database is a mention of another race, a race we can use as allies"

"Will they be able to help us in any meaningful way? All races in this apart of the galaxy, even the Mimbari have been subjugated or in the case of the Drahk simply wiped out."

"This race is different, they are almost as old as the Vorlons and they have been to war with them before. They were only defeated because while they had no allies the Vorlons enlisted the help of the Mimbari who were the race that the Vorlons used to do their dirty work before the arrival of the Cylons. I propose that we contact this race and offer our help if they enter the war with the Vrolons. They will be evenly matched and then, when we have finished with the Cylons, we can enter the war on there side and tip the balance of power in there favour."

The Quorum was uneasy but knew that if the Earth Empire was to survive and destroy those responsible for the two holocausts then they had no choice, they approved the plan to send captain Richard Hurst and the _Independence_ to the other races home world. In orbit the_ Independence_ jumped, its destination: Za'Ha'Dum.

The last thing to be shown to the Quorum from the Vorlon database was a list of all planets belonging to the Vorlons and Cylons and what they were used for, shipyards, munitions dumps, supply lines, cloning factories, centurion production plants it was all there. The Quorum greeted this information warmly but felt it of little real use as the names were those the Vorlons and Cylons had chosen so there was no way of knowing which star systems the map referred to. That was until the Quorum chamber darkened and a hologram took form, above the Quorum of Thirteen a map of the galaxy glowed and within it every Vorlon and Cylon star glittered like precious jewels.


	10. Chapter Ten Revalations

_Independence_ was on her third jump out of the 5 needed to take her to Za'ha'dum and on the bridge Captain Richard Hurst was voicing his concerns to the woman his ship of the line as acting like a glorified taxi for. The legendary diplomat ambassador Kim Putt.

"but Kim we don't know anything about this species other than they are called the "Ancient Enemy" by the Vorlons. If the Vorlons have not been able to defeat them then what chance do we have if they turn on us?"

_Jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Jump_

"You are forgetting Richard that the adaptations of Colonial, Earth, and Vrolon tech have put us only slightly below the first ones and more advanced than even the Mimbari at their height. This "Ancient Enemy" has fought the Vorlons for thousands of years and will be more concerned with destroying them than turning on us. Even if they do turn on us after we have destroyed the Cylons and Vorlons the research of the database will be complete and the Earth Empire will be the most powerful race in the known universe be combining all of the best aspects and none of the weaknesses. This will work and we will defeat the Cylons and we will destroy their "gods" and then we will rebuild and if it means we have to gamble on an unknown factor then so be it. Nothing worth doing is easy."

"I still don't like it"

"Then it's a good job your not in charge."

_Jumping to Za,Ha,Dum in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, jumping_

The unknown regions

The void, dark and infinite, so large that even fleets could remain undiscovered for centuries, the Cylon model 9 was contemplating this as his Basestar approached the Katana Fleet. Soon they would have the technology required to level the playing field with the new Earth Empire, before him 20 Warlock class destroyers floated silently gentle and serene within the silence of the void. Wait….. 20? there were 21! "Centurion, jump!"

deep within he floating derelicts yellow balls of light formed around what would be the missile batteries on a regular Warlock, they grew larger and larger before shooting out as beams of light that rivalled a sun flying down the port and starboard sides to connect just in front of the bow of the Warlock where they became one large bright beam of sunlight that flew thought space and struck the Cylon baseship. The centurion never had the chance to respond as the basestar blew apart in a massive fireball with armour and Cylons spewing out in all directions even as they disintegrated into smaller peaces.

The _Defiance_ cruised towards the Katana fleet and the Void was silent once more.


	11. Chapter Eleven The Mystery Of The Katana

_Sorry for the very long delay in updating. I've had writers block. I know what I want to happen I just can't get it all to connect together._

Red lights flashed along the Port side of the _Defiance_ as twelve 4m x 4m slabs of armour plate retracted revealing some of the launch tubes. Twelve vipers launched and flew to the stern to escort one of the new breaching pods which had just emerged from the landing bay. They arrived just in time to see the two massive armour plated docking bay doors close and took up escort around breaching pod one in Delta formation with breacher one taking point

"Blue 2 stay in formation"

"Sorry Blue leader. I was just admiring the new breaching pod, looks kind of like a Nova class dreadnaught if you took away the guns ad replaced the fighter bay with the breaching system"

"and if you downsized the Nova about 20 times"

"That to"

"Breacher One to _Defiance_ we are approaching the Katana now"

"Rodger that Breacher One Captain Thomas wants you to try docking first, she doesn't want to compromise the hull unless absolutely necessary"

"Confirmed were coming upon the Katanas docking bay now well contact you from the bridge"

"Confirmed, don't take to long Breacher One"

"We'll try not to _Defiance_"

Breacher one glided silently into the docking bay of the Katana, flagship of the fleet and proceeded to disgorge its cargo of 50 marines into the abandoned docking bay. All were wearing full space suits as although there was plenty of air there was no heat and the temperature was currently at minus 215 degrees centigrade – absolute zero.

"Alright marines listen up! We will split into 4 groups, three of 10 and one of 20. Group one will proceed to the engine room, group two will proceed to med bay, group 3 to the escape pods and group 4, that's the 20, will follow me to the bridge. Alright move out!"

Major Ryan was leading group 4 to the bridge and was feeling uneasy, they were almost there and had not found anyone. While it's true he had not expected to find any survivors after so many decades the lack of bodies was very unnerving, in fact it was down right creepy he hoped one of the other teams or the bridge would hold the answers.

Major Ryan cautiously opened the door and stepped out onto the bridge. All was silent not even the emergency lights were operating. "Group one report" "We've reached the med bay major, we didn't find any bodies on the way and the med bay is deserted although it does look as if any medical equipment that wasn't bolted down has been removed" "Stay Put for now group two report" "We're in engineering sir. All the spare parts for the smaller items have been removed and may smaller systems cannibalised although the heating element of life support has been damage beyond repair." "Could it have been the Cylons?" "I don't think so sir. Only the smaller systems, the kind used in shuttles and the like have been removed, if it was the Cylons they'd have probably taken the hole bloody ship" "Bring what systems you can back on line, did you find any bodies?" "No sir, dead weird that. I shoud have the bridge systems restored in a few minuets." "Good get on it. Group three report" "All of the shuttlecraft and the escape pods are gone sir but the starfuries are still here, we have continued to search throughout the Katana, we've discovered about 400 bodies sir, there all huddled against the fusion reactor, it seems they tried to stay warm and await rescue but died of radiation poisoning from spending so long inside the reactor room without rad-suits" "How long" "judging from the area I'd estimate a few days at the least before the radiation got them" "Very well, fall back to breacher one and await further orders"

The bridge suddenly lit up as the systems came back on line.

"Major Ryan this is Captain Thomas please respond"

"Captain this is major Ryan"

"Major it's good to hear your voice, when you've completed your search I want you to alter the slave system the cylon infiltrator set up so that _Defiance_ not Katana is recognised as the flagship then bring back a copy of the commanding officers log"

"Yes captain, the search is nearly complete, we should be back shortly"

"Good. I look forward to your return, captain Thomas out."

The major booted up the computer, jabbed a few buttons looked very bemused and activated his suits comlink "Breacher one have a techie suit up and come to the bridge" computers had never been major Ryan's strong point.


End file.
